Monday, March 27, 2017

Home From Gary Con - The Good Lord Works in Mysterious Ways - Or Was it Just Fate?

So, I left Lake Geneva this morning. Over breakfast I noticed my flight was going to be delayed a half hour, so when Uber arrived and asked if I wanted the scenic tour for a 5 minute longer trip, I said yes. My driver was a retired pilot from SouthWest Airlines - very interesting trip.

I get to the airport and breeze through security. Get to my gate, and notice my plane is now running an hour late. Sigh.

Here an announcement that seemed to indicate my flight was changing gates. "What a PITA!"

Get to the new gate and I was wrong. Its the previous flight to NYC, also delayed, with seats available. They were rebooking people to the flight that was leaving NOW! Woot!

Get on the plane, find my seat and sit down next to a young woman who asked me "Did you enjoy the Con?"

Yep. I had to go to Gary Con, have my flight delayed and my departure moved up, to find an RPG player from Brooklyn that also reads The Tavern. Not even star struck - I have +Harley Stroh for that ;)

Needless to say the flight was over before I knew it. Gave out seven copies of Swords & Wizardry Light as we disembarked. Rach and I should be gaming in a few weeks in Brooklyn at the Hinterlands Bar.

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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